The Bible was written in an prescientific age, yet it is scientifically accurate and does not reflect the scientific errors that existed during the times it was written. This is not what one would expect from a book written during the years when the Bible was written. Men without divine guidance would have reflected the shifting opinions of "science" of their day. Since the Bible does not reflect contemporary opinions, it must have come about through Divine revelation.

Below are several examples of how the Bible reflects scientific accuracy.

- "He stretches out the north over the void, and hangs the earth upon nothing" (Job 26:7). This was written when men tried to figure out what supported the earth.

- "It is he who sits above the circle of the earth" (Isaiah 40:22). This was written when many men thought the earth was flat.

-"The host of heaven cannot be numbered" (Jeremiah 33:22). This was written in a time when many men tried to count the stars and were sure they could be numbered.

- "The wind blows toward the south, and goes round to the north; round and round goes the wind, and on its circuits the wind returns. All streams run to the sea, but the sea is not full; to the place where the streams flow, there they flow again" (Ecclesiastes 1:6-7). This verse reflected the air motion in the atmosphere and the water cycle long before it was understood by scientists.

- There are many examples related to health and hygiene found in the Law, especially in the first five books of the Old Testament. God had promised the Israelites that, "If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I put upon the Egyptians; for I am the Lord, your healer" (Exodus 15:26). Examples of these are the laws concerning leprosy (Leviticus 13), sanitation (Deuteronomy 23:12-13), a safe method to clean the hands after contacting the dead or an infected person (Numbers 19) ), circumcision to prevent cancer of the cervix in womem , prohibition of adultery and fornication (Exodus 20:14, cf. I Corinthians 6:18, 10:8) which eliminates the sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS, gonorrhea, syphilis, etc. God's people avoided many diseases by following directives in the Law given by God. For more examples of health and hygiene the reader may want to refer to S. I. McMillen's book, None Of These Disease. This book shows that divine revelation had to be involved in writing the Bible because of its health and hygiene concepts.

These are but a few examples. These rules of health and hygiene reflect sound principles only recently understood by men. Many of these facts were not understood by the writers but, as Wayne Grudem points out, the Bible is still "remarkably free from affirmations that the sun goes around the earth, or that the earth is flat, or that the earth rests on a giant turtle or elephant, and so forth." If one compares the Bible to other books of the time, such as Papyrus Eber (a 1500 B. C. Egyptian medical book), it is very evident that the Bible is in a class by itself in its accuracy. Dr. McMillen observes, "that Moses had so much faith in God's regulations that he did not incorporate a single medical misconception into the inspired instructions."

It is true that the Bible uses phrases such as, "the four corners of the earth" (Isaiah 11:12, cf. Revelations 7:1) and "the sun rises and the sun goes down" (Ecclesiastes 1:5) but, as Moises Silva notes, these do "not constitute an affirmation regarding the shape of the earth: rather, it belongs to a class of acceptable expression found in all languages." These are the same conventional, ordinary expressions we use today when we speak of the sun rising or setting, of morning or evening stars, falling stars, etc.

The scientific method, when properly applied, does not show that there are errors in the Bible. This does not mean there are not areas where some see a conflict between the Bible and science. But these are mainly in the areas of "beginnings", or Genesis, where the scientific method cannot be applied. The scientific method can be applied only when experiments and observations can be made. This limits it mainly to chemistry and physics. Its application to biological and geological sciences is much more limited. It cannot be applied to areas concerning beginnings of life, or so-called changes in life-form, because man cannot observe the changes or conduct experiments. It is in these areas that many see a conflict between the Bible and science, but this is not the case because the scientific method cannot be applied to these areas. Thus the Bible is not antagonistic towards science, or science towards the Bible. This will be discussed in more detail later.

The Bible contains many prophecies that show that God has revealed Himself through the Bible. However, before showing how He has done this, we must understand what is meant by prophecy.

First, by prophecy we mean predicting future events that could not be predicted by understanding natural forces, men's behavior, etc. These events cannot be predicted by extrapolating forward by using scientific, sociological, or psychological principles now available. Secondly, prophecies are not vague guesses of what will occur in the future which one could claim fulfilled by any of several later events. They are the specific, foretelling of events that one would not expect to occur with the explained details. Both of these qualities of prophecy allow it to be used as a strong proof that the Bible is the end result of God's revelation.

Prophecy has received major importance in the Bible; it was used as proof that one spoke for the Lord. An example of this can be seen in Moses telling Israel that "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brethren - him you shall heed." They were told that He the Lord "will putmy words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." They were to listen to this Prophet and obey him (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).

The Lord knew that the people would think to themselves, "How may we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?" Many would claim to be prophets, how could one tell who was speaking for the Lord and who was not? They were told, "When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him" (Deuteronomy 18:21-22). Thus the outcome of prophecy will show its source. If the event or events did not occur, the prediction was from men. This principle was used several times to prove who did not speak for God (Isaiah 41:21-24,26, 43:9-10, 48:14, Jeremiah 37:19, Lamentations 2:14) and to prove who did speak for God (Isaiah 42:9, 45:21, 46:11, 48:3-5).

Tyre, a maritime and commercial trade city, was located on the east coast of the Mediterranean Sea and became the best harbor on this coast. It became the subject of a prophecy by Ezekiel in 586 B. C. (Ezekiel 26-28:19). This city was very successful, not only due to its shipping and commerce, but also due to its purple dye and glass manufacturing. Ezekiel describes its success: "By your wisdom and your understanding you have gotten wealth for yourself, and have gathered gold and silver into your treasuries; by your great wisdom in trade you have increased your wealth" (Ezekiel 28:4-5).

During David's and Solomon's reigns as kings, Tyre was friendly towards Israel but later became hostile towards Jerusalem. This hostility is reflected in Tyre's reactions when Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar and went into the Babylonian captivity. Tyre boasted that the fall of Jerusalem would bring her better times, "I shall be replenished, now that she [Jerusalem] is laid waste" (Ezekiel 26:2). But Tyre's attitude did not result in her being replenished. God through His prophet Ezekiel told her, "Behold, I am against you, O Tyre, and will bring up many nations against you, as the sea brings up its waves. They shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers; and I will scrape her soil from her, and make her a bare rock. She shall be in the midst of the sea a place for spreading of nets; for I have spoken, says the Lord God; and she shall become a spoil to the nations; and her daughters on the mainland shall be slain by the sword" (Ezekiel 26:3-6). Later Ezekiel again prophesied against Tyre, "Because your heart is proud, and you have said, 'I am god, I sit in the seat of the gods, in the heart of the seas'.... I will bring strangers upon you, the most terrible of the nations... They shall thrust you down into the Pit, and you shall die the death of the slain in the heart of the seas" (Ezekiel 28:2-8). (The reader may wish to read the complete prophecy in Ezekiel 26:1-28:19. Here are found many details of the judgment to fall upon Tyre.)

These prophecies against Tyre foretell of the many nations that will come against her destroying her walls and breaking down her towers (Ezekiel 26:4). "For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will bring upon Tyre from the north Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, king of kings, with horses and chariots, and with horseman and a host of many soldiers" (Ezekiel 26:7). For thirteen years Nebuchadrezzar held Tyre under siege, and she withstood his armies. But finally Nebuchadrezzar's battering rams broke down the walls, and his axes destroyed the towers. His armies entered the city with their mighty array of "horseman and wagons and chariots" (Ezekiel 26:10).

The mainland part of the city, which became known as the Old Tyre, was destroyed. The other part of the city, which was located on an island about a half mile offshore, was not destroyed. Before Nebuchadrezzar's armies entered the city many of its people fled to the island part of the city, taking with them much of their wealth. There the city flourished, continuing to be a powerful maritime power and trade center. This island part of the city became known as New Tyre.

For two hundred and fifty years the flourishing New Tyre made it appear that the complete fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy would not occur. Here flourished a city that stood secure from other nation's armies because of the half mile of sea between her and the mainland. But then in 332 B. C. came Alexander the Great, the Greek who became conqueror of most of the civilized world. He came against Tyre on his way to Egypt. Although Tyre, a sea power, was not a threat to Alexander the Great's large land army, he stopped there several months to subdue it. Tyre was first asked to submit to Alexander the Great, but she would not. She probably felt secure now that she was located completely on the island protected from the land armies by the half mile width of the Mediterranean Sea. Alexander possessed no fleet to attack her, but the Sea did not stop him; rather it only gave him the opportunity to show what some call his greatest military achievement. The question, "Who was ever destroyed like Tyre in the midst of the sea?" (Ezekiel 27:32) shows his great accomplishment. In order to destroy New Tyre, Alexander the Great built a causeway across the strait to the island. He did this by breaking down the remaining walls and towers of Old Tyre, carrying the material out into the Mediterranean Sea. When this did not provide enough material, he scraped the soil from the land to complete it, leaving only barren rocks where Old Tyre once stood. Then his land armies crossed the causeway to scale the New Tyre walls to take what was considered an impregnable island city. The whole operation took Alexander the Great only seven months, much shorter than Nebuchadrezzar's thirteen years of toil to destroy Old Tyre. He thus fulfilled the prophecy: They will make a spoil of your riches and prey of your merchandise; they will break down your walls and destroy your pleasant houses; your stones and timber and soil they will cast into the midst of the waters. (Ezekiel 26:12.

Tyre was rebuilt after this fall to Alexander the Great, but only possessed a small fraction of its original size. She continued to stand up to other nations until she was completely destroyed by the Mamluks in 1289.

Tyre, the great commerce and maritime power is gone, nearly forgotten. No longer do the sailors sing of her, fulfilling the prophecy: "I will stop the music of your songs, and the sounds of your lyres shall be heard no more" (Ezekiel 26:13).

Today the site of Old Tyre remains an uninhabited, bare rocky place, fulfilling the prophecy: "I will make you a bare rock; you shall be a place for the spreading of nets; you shall never be rebuilt; for I the Lord have spoken, says the Lord God" (Ezekiel 26:14).

These nets are spread on the rocks by the fisherman who live in a small fishing village north of New Tyre. This village is of little significance except that her fishermen fulfill the above prophecy. Much of New Tyre now lies covered by the Sea, fulfilling another prophecy: "Now you are wrecked by the sea, in the depths of the waters; your merchandise and all your crew have sunk with you" (Ezekiel 7:34).

Edom was a southern neighbor kingdom of Israel composed of descendants of Esau (Genesis 36:1-19). When the Israelites left Egypt during the Exodus, they were forbidden to pass through this land and had to go around it (Numbers 20:14-21). Edom continued being hostile towards Israel and mistreated her.

Because of Edom's hostility towards Israel, Isaiah prophesied against her, stating:

A great slaughter in the land of Edom. Wild oxen shall fall with them, and young steers with the mighty bulls. Their land shall be soaked with blood, and their soil made rich with fat. Isaiah 34:6-7

From generation to generation it shall lie waste.... the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it. Isaiah 34:10-11

"Thorns shall grow over its strongholds, nettles and thistles in its fortresses. It shall be the haunt of jackals, and an abode for ostriches. And wild beasts shall meet with hyenas, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow; yea, there shall the night hag alight, and find for herself a resting place. There shall the owl nest and lay and hatch and gather her young in her shadow; yea, there shall the kites be gathered, each one with her mate. Isaiah 34:13-15

Malachi also prophesied Edom's permanent desolation:

"'I have hated Esau; I have laid waste his hill country and left his heritage to jackals of the desert.' If Edom says, 'We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins,' the Lord of hosts says, 'They may build, but I will tear down, till they are called the wicked country, the people with whom the Lord is angry for ever'" (Malachi 1:3-4)

Biblical prophecy involves one of the greatest ancient kingdoms, Egypt, and its predictions remain in effect today. Ezekiel prophesied against her during the Babylonian captivity period: The word of the Lord came to me: 'Son of man, set your face against Pharaoh king of Egypt, and prophesy against him and against all Egypt; speak, and say, Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams, that says, 'My Nile is my own, I made it.'" Ezekiel 29:1-4

The last part of the above quote, where the Pharaoh claimed "My Nile [River] is my own; I made it", caused his destruction. Egypt's dry, desert climate would make it a land of sand if it were not for the Nile River. This river watered the land and fertilized it when it overflowed its banks. So the Nile was held high in the eyes of the people. But when the Pharaoh elevated himself to be its maker and thus made himself a god in the eyes of the people, his days were numbered. Ezekiel spoke out against him with seven prophecies (Ezekiel 29-33). Let us look at just part of one prophecy:

Behold, I will bring a sword upon you, and cut off from you man and beast; and the land of Egypt shall be a desolation and waste. Then they will know that I am the Lord. Because you said, "The Nile is mine, and I made it."Ezekiel 29:8-9

I will make the land of Egypt desolation in the midst of desolated countries; and her cities shall be desolated forty years among cities that are laid waste. I will scatter the Egyptians among the nations, and disperse them through the countries. For thus says the Lord God: At the end of forty years I will gather the Egyptians from the peoples among whom they were scattered; and I will restore the fortunes of Egypt, and bring them back to the land of Pathros, the land of their origin; and there they shall be a lowly kingdom. It shall be the most lowly of kingdoms, and never again exalt itself above the nations; for I will make them so small that they will never again rule over the nations. Ezekiel 29:12-15

Daniel, a youth of Hebrew nobility, was carried away by King Nebuchadnezzar to the Babylonian captivity in 606 B. C. This deportation was predicted by Jeremiah (II Chronicles 36:11-21) because of Israel's apostasy. Isaiah told Judah's King Hezekiah that the Babylonians to whom he had shown his treasures would be back to carry them away to Babylon (Isaiah 39:5-7).

Daniel and his friends resolved they "would not defile" themselves with the king's rich foods or wine. God gave them "favor and compassion in the sight of the chief of the eunuchs,and they were educated in Chaldean affairs and language (Daniel 1:8ff). "God gave them learning and skill in all letters and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams" (1:17). God used Daniel's wisdom to give us an overview of the great world kingdoms.

The first of Daniel's predictions involved King Nebuchadnezzar's dream. The king had a dream that puzzled him and he demanded that his wise men explain it, but they could not. Then Daniel came forward promising to explain it. He told the king, "There is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days." Daniel then told the king of his dream: of a great image with a head of gold, breast of silver, lower body of bronze, and legs of iron, and what happened to it when it was smitten by a stone (Daniel 2:27-35). Daniel then gave an interpretation of the king's dream. King Nebuchadnezzar was the head of gold (2:37-38). The second kingdom, which the breast of silver symbolized, was the Medo-Persian Empire (identified later in Daniel 5). The third image of bronze, "shall rule over all the earth," and is to be identified as the Greek empire of Alexander the Great (2:39, 8:5,21, 10:20). The fourth kingdom was to be as "strong as iron" (2:40), yet a divided one. (This kingdom was not identified.) Following it, "in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall its sovereignty be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand for ever..." (2:44). Today we can look back and see that Daniel did predict correctly these kingdoms, and we can see too that some of his predictions are yet to be fulfilled. These predictions were correct because "A great God has made known to the king what shall be hereafter. The dream is certain, and its interpretation sure" (2:45).

The next unveiling of coming events involved King Nebuchadnezzar and his vision of a tree that "grew and became strong" and was chopped down (4:10-18). This dream was divinely interpreted and showed that King Nebuchadnezzar had "grown and become strong. Your greatness has grown and reaches to heaven, and your dominion to the ends of the earth" (4:22). He was to lose his position as king and "be driven from among men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field; you shall be made to eat grass like an ox" (4:25). King Nebuchadnezzar was afflicted with a mental disorder that caused him to think and act like an animal, causing him to eat grass, literally fulfilling this prophecy.

Next there was a prophecy involving Belshazzar, the second ruler of Babylon. During a feast he drank from the gold and silver vessels taken from the temple at Jerusalem. Because he defiled these sacred vessels, a "finger of a man's hand appeared and wrote" on the wall. None could understand these writings and Daniel was called to interpret the words. He told the king that his days were numbered, that he was found wanting, and that his kingdom would be given to the Medes and Persians. That very night Belshazzar lost his life and Darius the Mede took over the kingdom. Belshazzar was the "acting" king, serving in place of his father, King Nabonidus. Archaeological discoveries show that the King Nabonidus was gone that evening, and his son, Belshazzar, was in charge when Babylon fell to the Medes (5:1-30)

The next predictions Daniel gave involved a dream and a vision that follows the order given in chapter two. He saw four beasts - a lion, a bear, a leopard and a fourth beast (this one was so different it could not be described as anything about which we know) (7:1-8). Daniel stated that, "As I looked, thrones were placed and one that was ancient of days took his seat" (7:9). These four beasts represented four kingdoms (7:17). The first one, the lion, was the kingdom of Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar (7:4, 2:39). It was followed by the Medo-Persian kingdom (7:5), which was followed by Greece, under Alexander the Great. His kingdom was followed by one with four "heads" (7:6). We know that Alexander's kingdom was divided between four generals after his death.

Daniel was given a vision that contained further details of the visions and interpretations found in chapters 2 and 7. He saw a ram with two horns "charging westward and northward and southward; no beast could stand before him, and there was no one who could rescue from his power; he did as he pleased and magnified himself" (8:4). He then saw a he-goat that came against the ram and "struck the ram and broke his two horns" (8:7). There was also a "great horn", "four conspicuous horns", and a "little horn" (8:8-9). Details were given about these visions.

This vision involved strange animals and actions. Daniel, of course, was puzzled by it all and "sought to understand it." He was told of their meaning by "one having the appearance of a man." This servant was identified by a voice Daniel heard: "Gabriel, make this man understand the vision." He told Daniel, "Understand, O son of man, that the vision is for the time of the end" (8:15-17). He explained that the two horns were kings of Media and Persia, and that the he-goat was the king of Greece (Alexander the Great). He was told that the horn would break into four, meaning that "four kingdoms shall arise from his nation, but not with his power" (8:20-26).

Daniel was informed next that the length of the desolations of Jerusalem would be seventy years (9:2). He was also told that "seventy weeks of years are decreed concerning your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place" (9:24). This seventy weeks of years (70 x 7 = 490 years) was subdivided into 7, 62, and 1 week of years. The 7 and 62, or 69 weeks of years, was the 483 years between the decree to rebuild Jerusalem and the coming of the anointed one, the Christ (9:25-27).

Daniel also prophesied about kings from the north and the south, giving more details about what follows the third empire - the Greek empire founded by Alexander the Great (chapter 11). These prophecies have not been fulfilled, nor has the one concerning the statement that "there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time" (12:1). But Daniel was not to fear about his people during these troubled days; "at that time your people shall be delivered, every one whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall wake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (12:1-2). Daniel predicted that at this time of the end "many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase" (12:4). We see this prophecy being fulfilled in our day with the improvement in transportation and increase in scientific knowledge.

Daniel's prophecies have been fulfilled or are coming near fulfillment in our time. These prophecies stand as clear evidence that he bore a message inspired by the Maker, and we can accept this as more evidence that the Bible is God's revelation to mankind. There is no other explanation as to how a man could prophesy so accurately of coming events.

Since the Bible is approximately one third prophecy, these examples represent only a few of the Old Testament prophecies. There have been whole books written on fulfilled prophecy. The reader may wish to study one of these.